New teams, new dreams
by GLShikamaru
Summary: AU. Iruka decides to make different teams than in the manga. He places Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru on the same team, and makes Anko their jounin instructor. Pairings include; Naruto and Hinata, Shikamaru and Ino, Sasuke and his own overinflated ego.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in said story. If I did own them I would be like a mini-god. But I don't so I'm not. I do however own this story.

Author's note

I would like to let all of the readers out there know that this is fanfiction story based off of the series "Naruto". I kindly ask all of those who are reading this to look at the title I just typed in. It says Naruto, not Sasuke, therefore this fanfiction shall be about said headline character, AKA Naruto. If you want a story about Sasuke, don't ask me to make him a major character in my story, just SHUT UP AND FIND ANOTHER STORY. That being said let us begin our story about Naruto.

Chapter 1: Introduction

After Iruka had given Naruto his headband and returned him to the village, he realized that Konhoakagure was slowly destroying itself. He had seen the looks all of the elders were giving Naruto when he returned. Those people were disappointed that Naruto had lived, let alone returned to the village. Iruka had a feeling that if the Third wasn't there, some of them might actually have tried to kill Naruto. When Iruka had walked home from that ordeal, and started looking around, he realized that problem was that the village had become a coalition of cliques. And just like school girls they hated outsiders. The clans with bloodline limits would look down on those without. Iruka knew that many clans had main houses and branch houses. 'That's bullshit.' Iruka had thought. It didn't help that the underlying theme in the village was competition. From a young age, everyone in the village seemed to pick a rival. They would spend their entire lives competing against that on person, in hopes of getting stronger than that other person. Iruka had noticed that these rivalries were passed onto the children of those people. This led to entire clans competing with other clans.

'The single biggest threat to the village,' Iruka realized, 'was the village itself. Konoha is about to tear itself apart.' Iruka could see the village killing itself. Clans were already at each others throats. Iruka had talk of clan leadership being overthrown by the branch houses. 'The only way to end this is to stop it from starting,' Iruka concluded. With that thought in mind, Iruka reassigned the future gennin into their teams.

When Iruka entered the classroom, he could see that all of the graduates were waiting in nervous anticipation for the team announcements to be made. Even Shikamaru, who was never excited about anything, seemed anxious to hear the announcement. Iruka could see Sakura yelling at Naruto for sitting next to her instead of letting Sasuke take that seat. Iruka realized that this would be the last time he would have the chance to talk to this group as a whole. 'Oh well,' thought Iruka. 'This happens every year.' He began to wonder which three teams would become gennin and which wouldn't. He realized that the top three teams would probably become the gennin teams, but he still had hope for the other teams, particularly Narutos'.

"As I am sure you all realize," Iruka began, "Today you will be assigned into nine teams of three people each. This year the team assignments are based on the grades you received in this class, the higher your grade, the higher the team you will be in. Do you all understand?" The whole idea was to make teams where the students would be more equal. Competition was less likely to occur between team members who were closer in skill. He hoped that by putting together people who were closer in skill, they would help each other progress, rather than scorn/envy the other members of their team. To ensure this, Iruka had made sure that the jounin knew that in order to pass, the gennin had to work as a team. The gennin needed to learn early that the strength of an individual is nothing compared to that of the strength of the group.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei," came the chorus from most of the students.

"Then without further ado, allow me to announce the teams. Team Number 1; Uchia Sasuke,"

Sasuke thought that such teams were useless to an avenger like him. 'I should be on a team alone. Others will only slow me down and keep me from being able to beat that bastard brother of mine. Teams are for the weak.'

"Aburame Shino,"

Shino could have cared less which team he was in or who was on his team. His bugs were the only ally he would ever need.

"And Yamanaka Ino."

With that Ino jumped up and started shouting "I'm with Sasuke! I'm with Sasuke!"

Ino actually didn't care about being with Sasuke or not. She had originally started liking Sasuke to help Sakura out. Sakura had always had such a low self-esteem that she would rarely try to succeed because she expected failure. Ino hoped that by pretending she liked Sasuke, Sakura would try her best to become stronger than Ino in order to show off to her Sasuke-kun.

Sakura jumped up and shouted, "Sit down, Ino-chan." Inner Sakura had other thoughts, 'Make Ino-pig shut up by kicking her ass in front of Sasuke-kun.'

Iruka continued to read through his list of teams.

"Team 5; Akimichi Chouji,"

Chouji was busy eating pork rinds, but he did wave his hand to acknowledge that he heard.

Iruka was sorry for splitting up Chouji from his best friend Shikamaru. He almost put them on the same team, but he realized that with them on the same team, Chouji would continue allowing Shikamaru to stand up for him. Iruka had looked through the records of all his students and had found out that Chouji's, Shikamaru's, and Ino's families had all been on the same gennin teams for three generations. 'It is that sort of isolation that is tearing our village apart.'

"Inzuka Kiba,"

With that, Kiba cheered and Akamaru started licking Kibas' face. This caused Kiba to start laughing.

Kiba was already dreaming of how he would become the leader of the team.

"And Haruno Sakura."

Sakura was upset that she couldn't be with Sasuke-kun, but at least she didn't have to be with Naruto, that annoying brat.

Iruka continued until he reached Team Nine.

"Nara Shikamaru,"

"How troublesome," the young ninja muttered.

Shikamaru was actually happy with being on the lowest team. He figured it would be easy and that no one would have any high expectations of him since he was on the reject team.

Iruka had always been puzzled by Shikamaru. Shikamaru had always been able to perform the jutsus, albeit reluctantly, he had never turned in a single piece of homework.

"Team Nine; Hyuuga Hinata,"

Hinata blushed when her name was called. 'Father going to be so angry when he finds out that I'm on the lowest team,' was her only thought.

Of all his students, with the exception of Naruto, Iruka felt sorriest for this poor girl. Even though she was going to be the leader of the Hyuuga clan, her father still ignored. It wasn't that she lacked power or ability, she had plenty of both, she just lacked the inclination to use that power. She also had a crush on ...

"Uzamaki Naruto."

With those words Hinata started blushing furiously and totally forgot about her father and how angry he was going to be. 'I'm finally with,' Hinata was thinking, 'the person that I admire most.' She remembered the first time she had seen Naruto. The boy had been running away from more than fifteen villagers after he had pulled some practical joke. She could still hear his voice ring out, saying "You can't catch me because someday I'll be the hokage." With this brash display of confidence, Hinata had fallen in love Naruto instantly. Hinata realized that she had never actually talked with Naruto before, she had always been too afraid. She doubted that Naruto even realized she existed. She decided at that moment that she would make Naruto notice her.

Naruto had much different thoughts. 'I'll show them that I am the strongest of all the rookies.' Naruto decided. 'I'll go beat Hokage-sama, and then they'll have to make me the next hokage.' Naruto started laughing as he imagined the old hokage down on his knees begging Naruto to take over the job of the village's strongest. Then Naruto's stomach growled. 'Well, first I'll eat some ramen, and then I'll beat the old man.'

Iruka dismissed the class by saying, "Be here at 8 0'clock tomorrow to meet your jounin instructors."


	2. Chapter 2: The Jounin Instructor

Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in said story. If I did own them I would be like a mini-god. But I don't so I'm not. I do however own this story.

Chapter 2

**Later that day**

'It's too early to go home,' Naruto thought. 'There's nothing to do there besides watch the mold spread, anyhow.' Naruto was tempted to go find Iruka and ask him to take him out for ramen, but then he remembered that Iruka was going to be talking to the jounin instructors about their new teams. "I wonder what he'll say about me. He'll probably tell my instructor how kicked that chuunin's ass the other night. Yeah, and then he'll tell him how I should be a least a jounin, maybe even hokage!' Naruto decided that he would use the last of the money he had to treat himself to ramen at his favorite ramen stand.

On the way there, all Naruto could think about was how he was going to show his instructor how strong he was, and then Sakura-Chan would have to like him. He could see Sakura giving him a big hug and saying, 'Wow, Naruto. You're so strong. I bet you could beat up Sasuke in your sleep. You're my hero Naruto...' 'Yeah,' Naruto thought. 'That'll be awesome.'

When Naruto got to the ramen stand, he was starving. He sat down on a stool, and then one of the owners came up to him asked him, "What can I get for you today?" Naruto simply replied, "One, please." The man looked confused, "One of what sir." Naruto happily explained, "Oh, I meant one of everything." The man looked startled, but he started making up Naruto's order.

After Naruto had eaten three bowls of ramen, he began thinking. He started to wonder why all of the adult ninja's hated him with a passion, but the regular citizens of the village didn't treat him any differently than any of the other children. 'Perhaps they don't know about how Kyuubi is sealed inside of me. Perhaps the average citizen was oblivious to the fact that there was a monster inside of him. Naruto also began wondering if Kyuubi could hear what Naruto heard, and see what Naruto saw. He still couldn't believe that there was a monster inside of him.

Naruto looked up to grab another bowl of ramen, when he noticed that there was someone at the far end of the ramen booth. Whoever it was, was talking to the operator very quietly, as if she was afraid to be heard. And that someone had pink hair.

"Oi! Oi! Sakura, what're you doing here."

"Buying ramen."

"Wow, me too."

"Wow, imagine that. Two people in a ramen stand and they're both buying ramen," Sakura said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster.

'Dammit,' she thought. 'Why does he always have to bother me? Doesn't he realize that I don't like him? Doesn't realize that he annoys me?' Her internal ranting was interrupted by server bringing her order to her.

"Who are you eating with?" Naruto asked.

"What do mean," Sakura replied nervously.

"Well you ordered a two person meal, so I just assumed you were going to eat with somebody."

"Well, I was planning on eating with (indecipherable)," Sakura muttered.

"Who did you say? I couldn't hear you."

"I said Sasuke-kun." Sakura replied.

"WHAAT??!! Why would you want to eat with that stupid jerk, when you could have lunch with me?"

At that point, something inside Sakura snapped. The normal Sakura lost control, and Inner Sakura took over. And she was pissed.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL SASUKE STUPID!!!" Sakura shouted. "HE IS A HUNDRED TIMES SMARTER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE! Sasuke is kind, smart, generous, talented, and thoughtful. While you are a just a loud, annoying idiot." At that point, Sakura smacked Naruto hard across the face and shouted, "Never talk to me again!!!"

Then Sakura stormed out, leaving Naruto with a red mark on is face and a broken heart.

Hyuuga Hinata hated her life. She had returned home after the team assignments had been handed out. That had been thirty minutes ago, twenty-nine minutes ago her father asked her what team she was on, and twenty-eight minutes ago he had started yelling at her and still wasn't done yet. Right now he was trying to make her feel bad by saying how disappointed their ancestors were at her.

"A Hyuuga one of the lowest in their class, how far our clan must have fallen to have this happen. And the heiress of the clan no less. I fear the Hyuuga clan will end after you take over from me. Do you not feel ashamed for having upset our ancestors so much? You're a disgrace to the Hyuuga name. Tell me the names of the riffraff with whom you are associating."

"One of them is Nara Shikamaru,"

"Ah yes, the Nara clan. Easily the laziest bunch of ninjas there are. And your other teammates name?"

Hinata muttered something so low that her father couldn't hear it.

"Speak up, when the head of the clan speaks to you.'

"Uzamaki Naruto."

Her father almost looked scared for a second, but when Hinata looked again, all she could see was anger. "No!!! I forbid it, you are not allowed to even look at him, much less be on the same team as him!!!"

Hinata's large, clear eyes began to fill up with tears. 'He can't, He can't say that. I finally get to be with the one person I love, and he's going to stop me. I won't let him, I won't.' With that, she did the only thing she could think of. And her father just watched her.

"Hiashi, you know you don't have the authority to do that." Came a voice from a tree.

"Who invited you into my house, Iruka?"

"The third sent me here. He anticipated that you would be upset by your daughter's teammate."

"And he's right."

"He also told me to tell you that it isn't your decision anymore. Now that Hinata has graduated, she is an adult in the eyes of the village."

"If she lives in my house, she lives according to my rules."

"And what rules are those?"

"The Hyuuga clan rules that have been passed down for generations."

"The same rules that state that the second born child of the main house must be sealed with the mark of the sealed bird? Because I noticed that Hanabi is lacking that particular seal on her pretty forehead."

Hiashi realized that Iruka had him. He would have to give up, or else the hokage get force Hiashi to abide by his own rules, and make him put a seal on Hanabi. He also realized that the third would probably insist that he do it. The third had been putting a lot of pressure on him to stop the 'nonsense' of the main family and branch family. The third was probably still angry at Hiashi anyway, since it had been Hiashi who had led the group of elders to search for Naruto the night he ran away. Hiashi had never seen the third as angry as when the elders had tried to demand that Naruto be handed because he was a threat to the village. The Hokage had told them that Naruto had saved the village twice already, and that the real threats were the elders themselves, the ones who had been responsible for Naruto's suffering. 'Yes,' Hiashi thought, 'Yondaime will definitely strike back at me for leading that group. It is best if I don't give him the chance.'

"Fine Hiashi," Hiashi said. "See if I care what happens to her."

Then he left and went inside.

Iruka was relieved that Hiashi let it go so easily. If things had gotten violent, Iruka would have been in trouble. It wasn't as if Iruka suspected there would be trouble, but the old families seemed to be a bit unstable anyways. "Oh well, I must as well go bring Hinata back here. It's not as if her father will do it.' And then he left in search of Hinata.

As Shikamaru walked home from the academy, he realized he didn't know anything about either of his teammates. All he knew about Naruto was that he was loud and annoying, and he couldn't remember Hinata ever talking unless Iruka made her. He knew about the Hyuuga bloodline, who in Konoha didn't, but he had never seen it been used, and had no idea how it worked. Shikamaru decided that after he ate dinner at home, he would go outside and watch the clouds go by until it got too dark to see. He figured he could use that time to remember anything he could about either of his teammates.

When Shikamaru got home, his mother was right there waiting for him.

"Shikamaru, could you do something for me?"

'Dammit,' Shikamaru thought. 'Why does she always phrase it as a question? It's not as if I have a choice in the matter.' All he said was, "Yes, mother."

"Your father is back from his mission early, and I would like you to start training with him now, since you are a gennin."

Well, there went his cloud gazing plan.

"How troublesome."

"Shikamaru!"

"I'm going mother." And he was, but as slowly as he thought he could get away with. He wondered how his father could stand being married to a woman. They were so bossy, and always ordered you around, and ...

"Shikamaru."

"Yes, father."

"Today is the day you learn the first of six Nara clan special techniques."

Shikamaru was amazed. He had heard from other people that his father didn't use regular jutsus like the other ninjas. His father had never even mentioned that the Nara clan had any special techniques, though most clans did, much less told Shikamaru that he would teach those techniques to him.

"This first skill is known as Kagemane no Jutsu. This is a very useful skill, and once mastered can be more deadly than many kekkai genkais. The principle of this technique is that you can put your chakra into your shadow, and then you attach your shadow to someone else's shadow, and then they must follow your movements."

"I didn't get that."

"Perhaps it is easier to show than explain."

Shikamaru suddenly noticed that his father's shadow extended, and then it touched his shadow, and he could no longer move on his own. His father spread his arms, and then he followed suit. 'Dammit, my body is moving on its own.'

"See, this is what I mean. You no longer have control of your body." His father then released him.

"To make full use of this skill, you must be observant. You must always be aware of how the environment you're in can help or hurt you. Once you have mastered this, you will need no weapons. The weapons your opponent has can be used to kill him, but if you need to carry weapons for whatever reason, wear your weapons in unusual places. That way your opponent is less likely to have a weapon in the same place." To illustrate this, Shikamaru's father rolled up his sleeve to show that he put his shuriken holder around his forearm, rather than around his hip, as most ninjas did.

"This technique does, however, have its limits. The first is surface area."

"Surface area?" What the hell was his father talking about?

"Yes, surface area. You can only extend your shadow as far as the natural surface area would cover. You can make your shadow any shape, but the size remains constant. Therefore, this technique is strongest right after sunrise and right before sunset, and it is weakest at noon. The second limitation is chakra. This technique uses up large amounts of chakra. You can hold multiple people with this technique, but holding them uses chakra up. Also, if your opponent has a significantly larger amount of chakra than you do, it is possible that he will be able to break free of your hold on him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father."

"Good, then let's start practicing."

When Hinata ran from her father, she had no idea where she was going. Her feet had carried her to place that she often visited when she needed to get away from her family. She hated her family so much right now. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Why did she have to be born into that idiotic clan with all their idiotic rules and those expectations of her? Didn't they realize that she didn't want to have to kill, she had always wanted to help people and make them feel better, but no, her father said that it was the job of the Hyuuga clan to protect Konoha, not to heal it. 'Damn these eyes,' she thought. 'I hate being in the Hyuuga clan. Everybody in Konoha is either scared of us or jealous of us. They have no idea what it's like to have the burden of such a clan on their shoulders.'

Just then Hinata arrived at her favorite pity place, the playground. When she got there, she noticed that someone was already there. "It's Naruto-kun," she said to herself. 'But he looks different,' she thought. 'He looks so sad.' He wasn't wearing that cocky smile that he always wore. He wasn't standing up straight; he was kind of hunched over. His eyes looked red and puffy like he had been crying and his knuckles looked bruised like he had been punching something. Hinata looked around and saw the tree that Naruto must have vented his frustration on. He was just sitting there, slowly swinging back and forth on the swing, with his head hung low. She decided that it would be best if she left before Naruto noticed her, but as she was turning around to leave, she tripped over her own feet, and made a loud umph sound.

This caused Naruto to look up and see Hinata laying on the ground there. He got up and went to see if she was alright. He started smiling; hoping that Hinata hadn't noticed how said he was.

"Are you alright?"

"H-h-hai." Hinata mumbled.

Naruto reached his hand out to help Hinata, and she gladly took it. It was the first time that she had ever talked to Naruto, much less touched him. This made her feel brave enough to ask the question, "Why were you crying?" After seeing Naruto's face fall at the question, she wished that she hadn't asked it.

Naruto was about to make up an excuse, when he realize that this was Hyuuga Hinata, his new teammate. 'I should probably tell her the truth now, because if she finds out later, she'll never trust me.' He also thought that it was strange that someone his own age, especially a girl his own age, was being nice to him. So he decided to tell the truth to Hinata. He was also glad to have someone to talk to, even if he didn't know her that well.

"I'm just angry that Sakura slapped me and told me to never speak to her again."

Hinata could not understand why anyone would be so cruel to Naruto. It wasn't as if Naruto hurt anyone, but everybody always seemed to hate Naruto for no good reason. Hinata decided that she would never be mean to Naruto because she knew how it felt to be hated by everybody, and scorned because you were different. Hinata decided to ask Naruto something she had always been wondering, but never had the courage to ask him before.

"N-n-naruto?"

"Yes."

"W-w-w-why do you like Sakura so much?"

Naruto was about to say something, but he stopped. He had never really thought about why he liked Sakura. She was always mean to him, and she always said that she loved Sasuke, so why did he like her. Just then remembered the first day he had decided to go after Sakura.

BEGIN FLASHBACK

It was Naruto's fourth day at the academy, and everybody was already calling Naruto a failure. Iruka-sensei had called Naruto an idiot fourteen times so far, and everybody laughed at Naruto when they thought he wasn't looking. Some of the older academy students had told Naruto to leave, because they didn't want a freak like him at the academy. The only person that had actually had been nice to Naruto so far had been a kid who was a year older than him. This kid had black hair, which was cut in a bowl cut, and thick black eyebrows. The kid, who was called Rock Lee, had said, "Don't give up, if you work hard, you can become even better than the greatest genius of the leaf." And to prove that he meant what he said, Rock Lee gave him a nice guy pose.

Then there was Sasuke. Naruto already hated Sasuke, while everybody else seemed to be love in with that jerk. Everybody was talking about how he already knew all twelve signs, and how he could perform jutsus that most chunnin couldn't do. 'Damn, that Sasgay.' Naruto had thought. Naruto was determined to prove that he was better than Sasuke.

So Naruto had gone up to Sasuke and shouted, "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Neh... you're not even worth my time." And that bastard had turned around and walked away.

Everybody started laughing at Naruto and calling him an idiot. Then Naruto noticed two girls talking to each other, one had pink hair the other had blonde.

Pink hair said, "Isn't Sasuke so cool." She was almost swooning as she said it.

Blondie said, "Yeah, I guess so."

Pinkie said, "When I grow up, I want to marry him."

Blondie; "Yeah, Sakura, you and half the other girls in the village."

Sakura. That was the name of the pink haired girl. 'I know how I can prove that I'm better than Sasgay. I'll go out with Sakura, and then she'll admit that I'm better than Sasgay, and she'll tell everyone else that I'm better than him and then they'll all say that I'm good enough to be Hokage, and I'll take over from that old fart.' Naruto had images of Sasuke being sad and disappointed that he wasn't the best ninja anymore, and images of Naruto standing up with the Third begging him to take over the job of Hokage. "Hehehe." Naruto laughed out loud.

(A/N: I know its flawed logic, but he only twelve, so cut him a break.)

Then Naruto went up to Sakura and said, "Sakura-chan, do you want to go out with me?"

END FLASHBACK

Naruto started laughing had himself when he remembered his reason for liking Sakura-chan. Hinata was worried that Naruto might have just gone crazy, so she asked him, "What is it?"

"I just remembered that my only reason for liking Sakura was that she liked Sasuke. I guess I kinda figured that if I could make her like me, I would be better than Sasuke. Kinda stupid huh?"

Hinata just blushed and gave a little nod.

"So why are you here?" Naruto asked.

"My father said that I'm not allowed to be on the same team as you." Hinata said hesitantly.

"WHAT?!? Why would he say that? I mean I know all of the adults of the village hate me, but why would he forbid us from being on the same? Is he even allowed to do that?"

"No."

Hinata and Naruto looked around to see where the voice came from. Suddenly Iruka appeared in-between them.

"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Two things. First, I'm here to bring Hinata back to her father's house."  
  
"But I don't want to go back."

"Don't worry about it. I just talked to your father and reminded him that the decision of what team you're on is not up to him. He won't be happy about it, but he'll have to allow it. The second thing is that I came here to tell Naruto that I received a promotion."  
  
"What, when did this happen."

"I'll officially be a jounin tomorrow, after I hand you all over to your jounin instructors. I even have my first assignment."  
  
"What is it? What is it?" Naruto was practically wetting himself with excitement.

"I can't tell you."  
  
Naruto's face fell.

"Don't worry, if become a gennin, I'm sure you'll see me in a couple of months. But, now, I had better take Hinata back to her father's house."

With that Iruka took Hinata with him back to the Hyuuga clan manor. Naruto slowly walked back to his empty apartment.

**The Next Morning**

Naruto was getting impatient. There were only two teams without their jounin instructors, teams 1 and 9, and he had been there for almost two hours. The fact that nobody was talking was irritating Naruto to no end. Suddenly, there appeared to be a miniature tornado in the center of the room. The wind cleared and standing there was a female jounin. "Team 9, I am Mitarashi Anko, and I am your new jounin instructor!" The woman shouted.

Naruto had something to shout back, "Whaaat?!? A woman???"  
  
Suddenly Anko performed a set of eight hand seals, and Naruto could no longer move or speak.

"Kid, you seemed intelligent right up to the moment when you opened up your mouth."

She pointed to Hinata and Shikamaru, "Are you his teammates?"

They just nodded, for fear of speaking.

"Good, grab the brat, and follow me."

She started walking out the door before either of them could even acknowledge they had heard her. 'Great,' Shikamaru thought. 'All I need is another bossy woman.' But he reluctantly helped Hinata pick up Naruto, and start carrying out the door. Once they were outside, they saw a male ninja walking towards the academy. He had spiky gray hair, one of his eyes were covered by his head protector, and his mouth was completely hidden. 'He must be the instructor for team one,' Shikamaru thought. As the ninja passed, Shikamaru heard him say, "Should I say I was putting out a fire with water jutsu. Or should I tell them I was saving the village from a flood, or ..."

THE END

Author's Note: I'm so embarrassed, I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but all of the characters are two years older than in the manga. So they start the academy when they're eleven, and graduate when they are fourteen. This will be important later on.

Bonus points for whoever can tell me who Mitarashi Anko. No she is not an original character. She is from the manga.

I'm also looking for a beta reader. If interested, e-mail me at

Please Read and Review.


	3. Chapter 3: The Trials Begin

Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in said story. If I did own them I would be like a mini-god. But I don't so I'm not. I do however own this story.

Chapter 3: The trials begin.

'Dammit,' thought Shikamaru. They had been walking for nearly half an hour, and Naruto was getting pretty damned heavy. The fact that his whole body still ached from last evenings practice session with his father didn't help that much either. 'How troublesome these women are,' he thought. Why the hell did Naruto have to open his big mouth, and why did Anko have to put the jutsu on him. If Anko would just take the damned binding spell off, Shikamaru could use his Shadow Bind technique on Naruto, or, even better, Naruto could walk the whole damned way. Suddenly Anko stopped walking, and put her hand up for them to stop. They were in front of what appeared to be a large stadium of some sort. The outside was covered almost entirely in concrete, with the exception of the top of the structure, which was left completely open. He also noticed that there was a statue of the first Hokage in front of the stadium. 'This must be one Konhakagure's famous training grounds.' If he remembered correctly, which he always did, there were four of these training centers, one built by each Hokage. He couldn't, however, ever remember hearing what was in the stadiums, except that they represented the special skills that the Hokage that built it were famous for.

"Welcome to the first training center in Konoha. It is said that the first Hokage built this center as a place train academy students. After he died, the place began to fall into disrepair, and is now rarely used. The other three training centers are much more popular and the other gennin teams will be training at them. But because you are the statistically worst team, you are required to take your test here."

Naruto, who had just been released from Anko's jutsu, yelled, "Test??? What test? We already passed the graduation test."

"Yes, but you are not yet gennin. Of the nine teams that passed, only three of them will become gennin. And I feel sorry for anyone who put money on you passing my test."

Naruto got pissed about this and he ran to attack Anko. He started screaming, "I'm Uzamaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the next Ho..." Suddenly Naruto froze in place. He was still a good 10 feet from Anko. Hinata thought that Anko had cast here jutsu on Naruto again, but a quick look at Anko told Hinata that the jounin was just as surprised as she was. Then she noticed that Naruto and Shikamaru's shadows were connected.

All Shikamaru muttered was, "It's too troublesome to carry him again."

Anko continued, "Now that the loud mouth has shut up, I can continue. The three of you must pass a test together in order to advance onto gennin. If you should fail, you will return to academy for more training. To pass this test you three must defeat the strongest jounin in the village..." She let that hang in the air for a moment before she continued, "You must defeat me.

"I will be hiding inside the training center, you will have eight hours to hunt me down and defeat me. If I knock a single one of you out, then the entire team fails. Think about that before you do anything stupid Naruto."

"Hey why are you picking on me?"

"Because you're an idiot."

Before Naruto could reply to that, Anko started to run towards the training center. "Remember," she shouted over her shoulder, "you have eight hours."

Naruto started to run after her, but Shikamaru quickly put Shadow Bind on Naruto, and then released quickly, causing Naruto to fall over.

"Dammit," Naruto muttered. Then he yelled to Shikamaru, "Why did you do that."

"Because I know you can't defeat her."  
  
"What??!! I'm easily the strongest graduate from our class."

"But you're still nothing compared to a jounin. Why do you think that there are three people per team. Because compared to a jounin, individually we're nothing, but as a team we have the ability to at least damage a jounin, maybe even defeat one."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"Hinata?" Shikamaru said to the young heiress.

"H-h-hai," Hinata said.

"Can you use the Byakugan eye?"

"Only a little." Came the timid reply.

"Eh? Byakugan??" Naruto stupidly said. "What is that?"

Shikamaru knew that Hinata was quite strong, but she was too timid to use that strength. He also realized that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. It was obvious in the way that she looked at him. So Shikamaru decided the best way to overcome her timid ness was to have her talk to Naruto, the boy she had a crush on.

Hinata realized that there was no escaping the question. She was afraid that Naruto would hate or fear her after she told him about her bloodline. So many people already hated her and her family for having such a powerful bloodline. Every time her father and she went walking done the streets of Konoha, people would quickly duck out of the way of the powerful Hyuuga clan. She never had any friends because all of the other children picked on the fear their parents showed towards her father, and then all of the children would avoid her. Her childhood had been a very lonely one. (A/N Sounds familiar don't it.) But she realized that she couldn't lie to Naruto-kun. So she decided to tell him the truth and hope for the best.

"T-t-the Byakugan is my family's bloodline technique. By activating it I can see through solid objects, and into a person. This allows me to see how a persons' chakra flows through their body. I can also push chakra out through my hands."

"Hinata."

"H-h-hai."

"You're so awesome!!!"

Hinata started blushing like crazy. No one had ever called her awesome before. Everyone was always telling her how horrible she was, and what a disgrace she was. Naruto was the first person to ever acknowledge her. For the first time since her mother had died, Hinata actually felt good about herself.

"Would you be able to see where Anko went in the forest?"

"Hai."

'It could just be me, but she sounds a lot more confident than she did a second ago.' Shikamaru thought.

"Well, now all we have to worry about is being able to defeat once we catch her." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Don't worry, I've got the perfect technique for that."

"Really?" This was news to Shikamaru. He had always thought that the only one in class lazier than him was Naruto, but if Naruto knew a strong technique that might not have been true.

"Sure, I'll show ultimate technique of the fifth Hokage, Uzamaki Naruto. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto then performed the seals that he had just learned a few days ago. When he was done, there were ten perfect clones of Naruto standing there. All of them wearing cocky smiles and looking overconfident.

"How interesting," Shikamaru mused aloud.

"Wow." Was all Hinata said.

"This is a jounin level technique." Naruto said. "It was on the Scroll of Seals, and requires tons of charka to perform. The Fourth Hokage was the person who last used that scroll."

'So,' Shikamaru thought. 'Naruto was the one who caused all of that trouble the night.' That was one part of the mystery that was solved, but it opened up another whole set of questions. He remembered hearing his father swearing after he heard someone had taken the Scroll of Seals, and then his father said, "He could use that scroll to unseal it.!!!" 'Well,' Shikamaru thought, 'now I know who the he is, but I still don't know what it is.' Then Shikamaru decided that he had more important things to worry about, like passing Anko's test.

"Does anyone have some ramen, because I'm starving." Said eleven Narutos at once.

"Naruto is there any way you can get rid of those clones?"

"Sure, all you need to do is hit them, and then they turn into a puff of smoke."

Shikamaru experimented. He punched one and it exploded. 'Interesting.' Shikamaru thought. 'They're not really solid, but composed of chakra.' He punched the rest of them in various places, and, regardless, of where or how hard he hit, they would explode.

"Naruto, Hinata, go into town and grab some ramen. Be back here in an hour."

"What are you going to be doing?" Naruto asked the lazy youth.

"Watching the clouds." Shikamaru said.

Naruto figured to hell with it, and decided to just go get some ramen. He was very hungry after all. He grabbed Hinata's hand and shouted, "Let's get some ramen, Hinata."

As Shikamaru watched his two teammates run towards town, he began to think of a plan of attack for his team.

Hinata was enjoying eating lunch with her Naruto-kun. He was talking about how he was going to be the strongest Hokage that Konoha had ever seen. 'I wish that I could have the sort of confidence that he has. He is always so brave and strong, and I'm a failure.'

"So Hinata, you have a bloodline limit, that's pretty neat."

"Actually, it's not neat at all, it's a curse."

"What do ya mean, a curse?" Naruto said with a mouth full of ramen.

"All of my life more has been expected of me because I was born to a family with a bloodline limit. My father has always called me a loser because I am not as good as my older cousin Neji. I've been called a disgrace to my family because I can barely use the Byakugan correctly. I've always been an outcast because all of the other children's parents are scared of my father. People have always expected me to be a genius, when all I wanted to be was a normal kid. All I wanted to be was normal"

Then Hinata started crying. She couldn't stop herself. She knew she probably looked silly, crying there in the middle of a ramen stand, but she couldn't help it. Then she heard the scraping of a chair moving away from the table, and she knew that Naruto must have been embarrassed by her and was leaving. 'Great,' she thought, 'I scared away the only person I ever cared for.' She was shocked when felt something going around her neck. She saw Naruto there, he had scouted his chair next to hers not away from it, he had his arm around her shoulder. The strangest thing was that Naruto himself was crying a little with his head down.

"I know how you feel, Hinata. I too grew up alone, with nobody there to comfort me or to praise me. I never had any friends because they were all scared of me. I know how you feel Hinata-chan."

Naruto finally looked up, and saw Hinata had stopped crying. 'She has a very pretty face,' he thought. Then he shook his head a little. 'Where did that come form?' he was about to say something to her when he heard a ringing. He looked up at the clock on the wall, and realized they were supposed to be back in five minutes. He grabbed Hinata's hand and said, "We're gonna be late, Hinata-chan."

Anko was getting tired of waiting for the three kids to attack. She had thought that Naruto would be anxious to rush in and attack her, and now she regretted giving them eight hours. She had been up in the tree for more than three hours already, and was getting bored. This led her to think of things to do. 'I could start planting traps for those three, but Iruka did say to just test them on how well they work together as a team, so that probably is not the best idea there is. I could go and see where they are, but then that would destroy any element of surprise that they might have, and I did say I would wait for them. I know I'll eat some chocolates.'

When she was halfway through the box of chocolates that Iruka had given her, she remembered that she still hadn't looked at the evaluations of the kids that Iruka had given her. She decided that she needed to read them in order to get to know the kids that might be her apprentices.

Name: Uzamaki Naruto

Class Ranking: 27/27

School Ranking: 81/81

Ninjutsu ranking: 27/27 81/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 27/27 81/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 27/27 81/81

Behavior: F

Comments: Despite his behavior problems, Naruto is actually a good kid. He is always seeking attention, but that is partially due to the fact that all of the children shun him. I doubt the other children know that he is Kyuubi's vessel, but he recently learned that he was. He has a larger amount of charka, and I believe a lot of it is from the Kyuubi. This however does affect his charka control, probably because there is too much charka to control. Make sure to keep an eye on him, especially if he is very emotional. I believe that when he is emotionally distressed the seal will slip a little bit. Naruto says his goal is to be the next Hokage of Konoha, and he works incredibly hard to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, I believe Naruto takes being a shinobi lightly because of this and lacks a healthy respect for authority. You will need to teach how serious a job being a ninja is. Overall Naruto is a good kid with a lot of potential, but you will have force him to take the duties to his village and his friends seriously while he is a gennin.

'Interesting,' Anko thought, 'very interesting.' She had been gone from the village when Kyuubi attacked. She had been with Orochimaru when the attack had occurred. And no one had ever told her who the Kyuubi had been sealed into. She had heard that the Fourth had sealed the Kyuubi into a child, but she was never very curious about who the host had been. It also explained why Iruka had asked her to train Naruto. She had trained with the curse seal on her for more than four years, and knew what it was like to have more charka than you could control. Anko realized that it would be interesting to train him. 'If he really is as ambitious as Iruka-kun says,' she thought. 'I could probably teach him some forbidden jutsus.'

Most jounin would shudder at the idea of teaching their students forbidden jutsus, but not Anko. In the real world, she decided, your enemies will know forbidden jutsus, and you better damn well know how to fight against that. And if that meant knowing some forbidden jutsus, so be it.

She moved on to the next sheet.

Name: Nara Shikamaru

Class Ranking: 26/27

School Ranking: 80/81

Ninjutsu Ranking: 26/27 79/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 25/27 78/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 26/27 80/81

Behavior: C

Comments: Shikamaru is a lazy assed kid. Though exceptionally intelligent, he lacks the motivation to even push his pen across paper. His IQ is well over 200, and he has a good mind for strategy, but rarely wants to do any work. He also places a high value on friendship, and will defend anyone who tries to hurt his friends. His loyalty is admirable. He needs some motivation to fight with his heart, instead of just his mind. He might make a good leader if properly motivated.

'Another kid that Iruka is impressed with and another challenge for me,' Anko thought. 'Oh well. The odds of the team passing were about one in two hundred, so I am not terribly worried about actually having to train them. But it would be interesting to train these two. Let's see what Iruka has to say about the third one.'

Name: Hyuuga Hinata

Class Ranking: 25/27

School Ranking: 77/81

Ninjutsu Ranking: 25/27 80/81

Taijutsu Ranking: 26/27 80/81

Genjutsu Ranking: 25/27 75/81

Female Only Classes: 5/9

Conduct: A

Comments: A very shy girl. She comes from the strongest clan in the village, and receives too much pressure from her father to succeed. She has excellent chakra control. I believe that she is the strongest girl of her class, but she has no self-confidence so she often fails at things she should be able to do. I think her problem is her family, and therefore I recommend, if she becomes a gennin, that she should not stay with her family. With some self-confidence she could become a very strong shinobi.

PS: She has a crush on Uzamaki Naruto.

Anko started laughing. 'This is going to be fun.' She thought. 'I have a girl with no confidence, a guy with too much confidence, and a guy who just doesn't want to work.' She decided to have some fun with these kids, and maybe even teach them a thing or two.

She heard the sound of someone approaching, and knew it was time for action.

Authors Note

I've gotten a lot of reviews, and decided to say something about them.

S-Wanderer999: I seriously doubt I will match up Sasuke with anyone.

Rokudaime-Kage: She is leading the team as a favor to Iruka. They have known each other for awhile, but more about that later.

Nonengel: I thought they would be a good team too.

Xero-ghost: He is fourteen now, but the flashback was when he was just starting the academy, so he was twelve then.

Minimerc: Yes, Iruka is probably going to be an examiner in the chuunin exams.

Dragon Man 180: Not when Naruto was under the spell of a jounin. That and he just learned it the night before.

Xoni Newcomer: Iruka will probably be a major character later on.

Ah-choo: Next time, Read the story before you speak.

Sorry this has taken so long, but I've been busy. The next chapter should be a bit longer. I hope to have it out soon.

Here is something for the bonus point people who answered my question, which is just about everyone.

Should Team 9 go to the wave country?  
( )Yes

( ) No

( ) Don't care

Just review the chapter and say what you want. I have good ideas for both so I'm leaving it up to you guys.

I'm also trying to think up a better title and summary, so I welcome all ideas.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Despite my best efforts; I still don't own Naruto.

Chapter 4: The power to defeat a Hokage

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata walked in a single file towards their target. Shikamaru hadn't told Naruto anything besides that he would know what to do when the time came. Naruto knew that Shikamaru was smart and just figured that he would handle it. Hinata, however, was worried about the challenge.

'If we fail, Naruto and I won't be together an a team anymore. And if I cause the team to fail, then Naruto might hate me for it. Bt how can we hope to fight against a jounin as powerful as Anko-sensei? She used to be ANBU; that's a level far above even a normal jounin's level. Is this a test any team of genin could hope to pass?'

Hinata's thoughts almost caused her to miss seeing the jounin she was thinking about. She waved her hand and pointed out where Anko was to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked around and muttered, "How troublesome." Anko was still within the forest, and her shadow was not easily visible, so Kage Mane no Jutsu would be difficult to use. 'I guess it's on to plan B.'

"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted to the blond-haired ninja, "Get her!"

"Hey, didn't you say I wasn't strong enough to beat her early?"

Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

'Heh, after seeing how strong my Kage Bunshin is, he must have changed his mind and admitted my strength. Now I just need to show this loud mouthed jounin how great I am, and I'll be the number one ninja in the leaf.'

While Naruto charged, Anko laughed. 'It took them this long and they still couldn't come up with a plan. They really are the failures of their year. Now I just need to show this loud mouthed gennin how great I am, and I'll be free of them forever.'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Five more Narutos appeared in front of Anko.

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? Well that is impressive.That's at least a chunnin level technique maybe even low jounin level. It's quite impressive that he has the stamina to be able to pull off such a chakra hungry technique. I'll bet learning such a powerful technique went to his head. It is my duty as his temporary jounin instructor to bring his ego to its proper level, like the floor.'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Anko said as ten copies of her appeared.

"Nani! You can use Kage Bunshin too," the six Narutos cried out at once.

"Of course," the ten Ankos laughed. "Too bad a lowly gennin like yourself can only produce a measely five clones. For a guy who wants to become Hokage, you sure are pretty worthless."

Each Anko clone threw a kunai at the Naruto clones. Each of the five clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"I'll show you worthless. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Ten Naruto clones appeared and kicked the Anko clones, causing them to disappear into smoke.

"How do you like that, old woman."

"Old Woman! Would an old woman be able to do this? Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Fifteen clones of Anko punched Naruto's clones faces.

"How do like them apples, gaaaa-ki."

"Gaki? Who are you..."

Shikamaru was just sitting back, watching the events unfold. He would have been suprised that his plan was working so well, but it was just to much effort to be suprised about anything. He knew that Anko was show-offy, but he never figured she would be this concerned with beating Naruto.

'In Shogi, the key is to take advantage of your opponent when they let their guard down, and she just let down her guard.'

Shikamaru did the hand seals and unleashed his shadow. The next time Naruto destroyed her clones, Shikamaru sent his shadow straight for his back. He saw the shadow connect before Anko was even able to see it coming.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu succ..."

Suddenly Anko disappeared and was replaced with a rock.

'Damn. Kawarimi no Jutsu. Where did she go off to?'

"Do you see her?"

"N-n-no," Hinata timidly replied.

Hinata was upset with her inability to see where Anko had gone. She had one job and she was unable to do it properly. 'Maybe father was right. Maybe I really am worthless. If only I had been born with greater ability I would be able to...'

Suddenly she saw Anko. The jounin was flying towards Narutos back, a kunai in her hand, aimed straight for Naruto's heart. Hinata suddenly lost control of her body. Her legs started moving on their own. She was running. Faster than she had ever run before. When she saw that Anko was closer to Naruto was, she ran faster still. The edges of her vision blurred and began to fade. All Hinata could see was Naruto, Anko, and the dagger between them. She reached Naruto a second before the kunai did. There was no time to knock Naruto out of the way, so she went for the kunai. Hinata's palm firmly connected with Anko's knuckles, causing the kunai to go flying out of the kunoichi's hand.

Anko was stunned. The attack wouldn't have actually hit Naruto, she was going to have stopped when it touched him and would have sent the team home then. Hinata had been a blur and had hit like a lightning bolt. Anko looked at her hand, and realized that she couldn't push chakra into it anymore. There had been more to Hinata's attack than had met the eye. Her father had said that Hinata couldn't use jyuken, but all of the tenketsu in Anko's right hand been sealed.

'This is getting interesting. The fact that the brat has that much chakra is impressive, but that this girl can also already use her bloodline limit is even more impressive. They might not be as bad as their grades represent. Now what does that other guy bring to the team.'

She turned to towards Shikamaru. Suddenly her mouth dropped. That guy was lying on his back staring up at the sky.

"Hey you, what the hell are you doing? The battlefield is no place to be cloudwatching."

Shikamaru sighed and muttered, "How troublesome."

"Troublesome!" Anko screamed. "I'll show you troublesome."

Anko pulled out two Kunai with seals attached to them.

"Naruto," Shikamaru said in his lazy manner. "Use the technique that you used to beat the hokage."

"Nani!"

"Just do it."

Anko turned to see what attack Naruto could have that was capable of defeating a man as powerful as the hokage.

"Sexy no Jutsu!"

Anko's jaw dropped. All she could do was stare in disbelief.

Naruto laughed. "I didn't you were that kind of a pervy person, ero-sensei."

Shikamaru easily caught her in his Kage Mane no Jutsu. As soon as she felt the technique connect, she tried to fight it, but by that point she had already used up too much chakra from making kage bunshins to break free of it.

"Kage Mane no Justsu, success."

"Yata! That means we win, right?"

Naruto and Shikamaru both looked at Anko with questioning glances. Hinata was still blushing red after seeing Naruto using such a disgraceful attack. She had turned away and refused to look back until she was sure that Naruto was back to normal.

"Yes, dammit, you all pass. Now let me go."

"Hooray," Naruto chanted while grabbing Hinata's arms and dancing around, "I'm a ninja!"

"Hey you three," Anko said, "Come over here."

Once they had all arrived and huddled up, Anko whispered just loud enough for them to hear, "If any of you tell anyone what happened here, I will personally hunt down each one of you make sure you die in the most painful, gruesome way I know, and I know hundreds of them."

She stood up and spoke in her normal voice, "That being said, I'll contact you all with missions tommorrow, enjoy your evenings."

SECTION BREAK

Anko was back in the offices of the hokage in order to report the results of the trials.

She slammed down the paperwork onto the table the Hokage was sitting at.

"Team 9 passed."

"Really?" Iruka said with hopeful eyes.

"Really really."

"Interesting," the Sandaime Hokage said thoughtfully.

"What is?"

"Team 9 is the fourth team to have passed the exams."

"Which other teams passed?"

"Teams 1, 2, and 5."

"Does this mean that team 9 has to go back to the academy?" Iruka asked worriedly.

"Of course not, I was watching the trials in my office, and team 9 legitmately beat jounin using team work, and that qualifies them to be full gennin." The old man then winked at Anko, "Don't worry the same technique got me too."

"Neh?" Iruka said, "What technique?"

Anko turned in place and started walking away with her knees in place. "I don't wanna talk about it."

END Chapter 4

Authors note: I am extremely sorry for the extended break I took. But I have written this chapter and hope to write several more soon. No excuse is adequate, and I sincerely apologize for disappearing like I did. And to everyone out there, ye I am still writing this!


End file.
